Title: Phosphorus and algae removal via adsorption: batch tests

Authors: Ahmad A. Ghadban; Md. Maruf Mortula

Addresses: Department of Civil Engineering, Kansas State University, 2118 Fiedler Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506-5000, USA ' Department of Civil Engineering, American University of Sharjah, P.O. Box 26666, Sharjah, UAE

Abstract: Many recent studies showed the efficiency of using adsorption for phosphorus removal from wastewater; however, none addressed its removal from seawater or the removal of algae via adsorption. The objective of this paper is to investigate the efficiency of using adsorption as a treatment process to remove microalgae and phosphorus. Activated alumina was used as an adsorbent. Results revealed that acidic conditions (pH = 5) and an adsorbent particle size of 0.6 mm were the most feasible experimental conditions for treatment. The removal percentages were more than 84% for phosphorus and more than 40% for chlorophyll-a using only 4 g/L of activated alumina. The results also showed that the removal density increased with the increase of initial phosphorus and chlorophyll-a concentrations while the percentage removal decreased. It was also observed that both phosphorus and chlorophyll-a removals were increasing as the adsorbent particle size decreased.

Keywords: adsorption; batch testing; phosphorus removal; seawater; microalgae; algae removal; wastewater treatment; chlorophyll-a removal; activated alumina; particle size.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSOC.2016.077519

International Journal of Sustainable Society, 2016 Vol.8 No.2, pp.169 - 184

Received: 26 Oct 2014
Accepted: 10 Nov 2015

Published online: 04 Jul 2016 *

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